Data released by the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) show an 18.1 percent increase in background checks on the sale of firearms in June.

Background checks for the first six months of 2009 are up 24.5 percent over the same period in 2008.

FBI background checks are required under federal law for all individuals purchasing either newly manufactured or used firearms from federally licensed retailers. As such, the checks serve as a gauge of sales but do not reflect the actual number of firearms produced or sold.

By Tim Inwood

I, for one, was nauseated by the news of the slaughter of Byrd and Melanie Billings at their home in Pensacola, Florida. These were wonderful people who had done very well in life and were using their fortune to help raise special needs children whom they had adopted. Sadly, media coverage of their large family and unusual circumstances brought unwanted attention from the criminal element in our society.

On July 9th, in a well-planned home invasion, seven armed men entered the Billings home via different entrances. They were only in the house for four minutes and on the property for ten minutes, but what was left in the wake of those ten minutes was devastating. As they made their getaway with their stolen plunder, they left two decent people dead and the children who were in the home traumatized.

The execution of the break-in was flawed, in that the thug whose task was to disable the home security surveillance system failed. The cameras caught the crime and recorded it. This has been useful, as the police have used this evidence to round up the guilty. Sadly it was worthless in stopping or deterring the crime in the first place. Thus far, eight people have been arrested; seven men for the actual home invasion and a forty-seven year old woman who is said to have been instrumental in the planning.

As news stories have unfolded about the events, I have heard nothing about firearms in the Billings home, just the security system and cameras. As we know, the system detected and recorded that thugs were on the grounds minutes before entering the home, so surely the Billings knew for a minute or so what was coming, but put up no resistance or fight. I therefore assume there were no guns available for the defense of the family. I found myself wondering, "What if Byrd Billing had been carrying a firearm?"